The vibe I’m getting out of Chargerville is that when Philip Rivers threw the interception leading to the defeat in Tampa, he also tossed the final dagger into the San Diego careers of coach Norv Turner and General Manager A.J. Smith.

Of course, we perceived the same vibe last year. So much for vibes. A Chargers win in Denver Sunday might lessen it. This isn’t the French Foreign Legion, from which there’s no coming back. But a loss would put the Chargers four games behind the Broncos in the AFC West (a win would leave them a game back), and the playoffs would appear out of the question.

And, with that, it is thought club President Dean Spanos would initiate a scorched earth policy.

But there’s no reason to get into serious coach-GM speculation now _ although so many of you love hearing it _ because nothing is immediate. As difficult as this year has been for everyone, especially Spanos, only he knows what he’s going to do.

But we can keep the topic on the future. And with that we bring up quarterback Philip Rivers, and this has nothing to do with how he played last year, is playing now, or how he may play until his $90-million-plus contract expires following the 2015 season, when he will be 34.

He isn’t going anywhere. His problem now as perceived by organization people strictly as mental, playing brilliantly for so long and then trying to make something happen he can’t make happen. Can he get over this thing about taking the weight of a game on his shoulders? “He’s been told a thousand times to calm down,” I’ve been informed.

On that we shall see. Like I say, he’s the quarterback, and there are prolonged moments when he’s as good as it gets.

But Smith, or whomever the 2013 GM may be, must look at the history of the Chargers and try not to repeat it. They soon must draft a quarterback and groom him to replace Rivers. Failure to find an heir apparent no doubt will return them to their darkest hours as a franchise.

When I ask Smith if he plans to perhaps draft and groom an heir, he says: “Not right now. But you can draft a quarterback any time.”

Of course you can, but if this team he built continues its toboggan run, that may not be his decision to make. And it should be made.

Backup Charlie Whitehurst is not going to be the answer to the quarterback-of-the-future question. For one, I’ve never heard anyone refer to him as a championship-caliber quarterback. For two, he’s been in the NFL seven years and thrown 155 passes. For three, he just turned 30 himself.

Allow me to give you a bit of a refresher course on Chargers quarterback history.

It started with Jack Kemp, who was very good. Sid Gillman gave him away to Buffalo. An aging Tobin Rote followed and he was fine, leading the Chargers to the 1963 AFL Championship (their only title). Rote then was followed by John Hadl (who was thrust in too soon a few years earlier) and John had a fine career than ended in 1972.